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My first cookbook came out in 2004. Since then I’ve written one more (Passover) plus some new recipes for the second addition of Soup-A Kosher Collection. But in in addition to the books, I’ve developed lots and lots of recipes for newspapers, magazines, my blog and recipes that haven’t been published anywhere but I use all the time at home or at work (Desserts Plus ).

I’ve been talking about the next cookbook for ages, but life keeps delaying things. So the other day I decided that enough was enough. It’s time to just get it done. I opened the program where I store most of my recipes and printed them off, organized and categorized them.

It’s going to take time to get even one done, but I have a lot of great recipes to work from for a number of books.

Between working 10+ hours a day, the holidays fast approaching and trying to sell my condo and hopefully move, there isn’t a lot of extra time to work on recipes, but just know that I am.

So many people have asked me when the next book will be available. I don’t know for sure, but I do know that I’m committing to squeezing out time to test and test and test and get the next one out there. And then the next!

No matter how strong my intentions are to post more, I generally fail. I really, really want to put up blog posts, but life gets in the way. I could go on about how my fridge hasn’t been working for a month so I haven’t been able to cook. . but who wants to hear about that?

Instead, I’ll show you some of the things I’ve been cooking and baking at work over the last few months. And if I can find the time and energy, I’ll get more posts up. Really. 🙂

Ps: if you want to see more of my cooking/baking, I post regularly (with my sister) on our instagram account. You can find us at Desserts_Plus.

The High Holidays are fast approaching and it seems everybody I know is in menu-planning mode. A good cheese kugel is great for lunch during Rosh Hashana or for breaking the fast on Yom Kippur.

I know a lot of recipes call for some sugar, but I prefer to leave it out of cheese kugels — leave it for the apple or other fruit versions. I like my cheese kugel to have a little tang and will either add sour cream, or in this case, buttermilk to the recipe. The topping is optional, and it is delicious without it, but perhaps just a little more delicious with it.

Serve with extra sour cream on the side or if you must have a little sweetness, some sliced strawberries in syrup.

Cranberry sauce is one of those things that is really, really easy to make, but i think a lot of people forgo making it and opt for opening a can instead. If you have access to fresh cranberries (or frozen, depending on the season) don’t question it — make a batch yourself and see how easy and delicious it is.

I always make it with orange or mandarin juice because I like the flavor combo. You can use water if you prefer. I also like the addition of some ground, dry ginger. I’ve tried it with fresh ginger, but it was too strong for my taste. You can omit the ginger altogether, or substitute cinnamon, clove, nutmeg or allspice. And if you’d like even more of a citrus kick, add some zest,

Happy Thanksgiving!

3 cups (or one 12 oz. package) fresh cranberries

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup fresh orange or mandarin (or tangerine or . .) juice

1/2 tsp. dry ginger

Wash and pick through the cranberries. Add everything to the pot and place over medium-high heat. Once the liquid comes to a simmer, reduce heat to medium and let cook for 5-7 minutes, or until the cranberries have all popped and the sauce has thickened. Pour into a dish to cool. Can be served warm or cover and keep refrigerated for up to one week.

Unless I’m working on a recipe, or baking something for a holiday, I don’t often bake at home. But sometimes the mood hits and I want the house to fill with the aroma of something delicious baking in the oven. Generally, this means I want a simple recipe , something that’s easy enough to prepare during the week, but special enough to make for Sunday morning brunch or to enjoy with a hot mug of tea.

These Maple Pecan Biscuits are just the thing. A really easy recipe that doesn’t require any special equipment and only takes a short time to assemble and bake. These are on the rustic side, so don’t waste time trying to make them look perfect. The dough shouldn’t look uniform when it’s ready to bake — you should be able to spot little pieces of butter mixed in with the chunks of pecans. And when they’re done, eat them while hot and crumbly with a little butter and a warm drink to wash it down.

Maple Pecan Biscuits

1 cup chopped pecans

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, chilled and cubed

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup milk (2%)

Preheat the oven to 350°. Place the pecans on a baking sheet in a single layer and toast the nuts for 5-7 minutes, or until they are just starting to brown. Set aside until cool. Increase the oven temperature to 400°.

In a mixing bowl, stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and brown sugar together. Add the butter and use a pastry cutter, forks or your fingertips to work the butter into the dough. You want the work the butter into pea-size or slightly smaller pieces, but not completely incorporated into the flour.

In a measuring cup combine the maple syrup and milk and mix. Pour into the dry ingredients and use a fork to combine. Use your hands to bring the dough together and then turn it out onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Pat the dough into a rectangle that has a uniform 1″ thickness.

Cut the rectangle into 8 squares, then cut each square in half, into triangles. Move the pieces around on the tray so that there’s room between all of them.

Place in the preheated oven and bake for 16-20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Serve hot out of the oven on their own or with some butter. Though they will keep for a couple of days if they’re well wrapped, these really are best when served fresh and still warm.

I’m going to be honest with you. I love my homemade granola so much that I think I had it for breakfast every day for about six months (with some Greek yogurt and fresh berries) until I finally got sick of it and (thought I) never wanted to see it again. Then, after going on a granola fast for a few months, I woke up one day and realized that I really missed it.

Here’s what I love about it: it’s filling and delicious and flexible. I’m sharing a recipe with you (below), but just take it as a guide. Add or replace nuts, spices, grains or anything else you like. Just stick with the basics — start with oats, add nuts and or coconut, spices, grains, some fat and a sweetener. You can add dried fruit, but don’t add it at the beginning. Stir it in for the last 10 minutes of baking. And make big batches — in a freezer bag or container this stuff can hang out in the freezer for a couple of months.

Granola

5 cups large flake oats

2 cups shredded unsweetened coconut

2 cups slivered, blanched almonds

2 cups pecans, chopped

1/2 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. allspice

1/4 cup canola oil

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup corn syrup

Preheat your oven to 325°.

In a large mixing bowl, use a spoon to mix the oats, coconut, almonds, pecans, salt, cinnamon and allspice.

Add the oil, vanilla and corn syrup and mix until everything is well incorporated.

Spread the mixture out on two baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 20 minutes, then stir. Switch the position of the trays around, then bake another 20 minutes and stir. Switch the trays around one more time and bake another 20 minutes or until golden brown (if you’re adding dried fruit, add it after 50 minutes or total baking time — then bake another 10 minutes or until done).

Let cool completely and package in freezer bags or an air-tight container. Can stay on your counter for a couple of weeks or in the freezer for a couple of months.

My favorite way to have this is with some Greek yogurt and lots of fresh, ripe berries.

On one hand, it seems like Passover has been over for ages. On the other hand, we’re just finally getting back into the normal pace of things at work. It’s amazing how long it takes to get things back to normal once the holiday is over.

As I get a little distance from Pesach I’m beginning to think about getting some new posts done. I have some things lined up, but are there any requests? Let me know if you’d like to see something on the blog and I’ll see what I can do (no guarantees).

I started off the year well, posting more times in one week than I did in all of 2012. I did well into February until I got buried under Passover prep and all of the sudden I had no time to do anything. I have a notebook full of recipes just waiting to be typed up and pictures on my phone ready to upload, but they’ll have to wait until after Passover before they get turned into posts. I thought I’d be able to post some great new recipes for Passover, but time got away from me (though there’s still a chance of some posts during the holiday). Instead, I’ve done a little search online to find my Passover footprints and round them up into a single post here. Some of the links are recipes on my blog or other websites, some are links to my business and my books and a few of them are links to eGullet.org, where I spent 3 Passovers blogging for the members there during Passover (I look back on those foodblogs now and can’t figure out how I got them done).

My family business: So, the reason I’m so busy now is that along with my parents, I own a kosher food store (the only independent kosher food store in the city) and catering company. Passover is our busiest time of the year, no question. We turn our store over completely for Passover, removing all items that are not kosher for Passover from the shelves, freezers and coolers and bringing in well over 1,000 kosher for Passover items (plus beef, lamb, veal, poultry and deli). Starting last week, we’ve been getting truckloads of products delivered almost daily, starting with an initial order that weighed in at 11,600 lbs. You can take a look at what we sell on our Facebook page, where we posted this album/tour.

On the side, I write cookbooks. So far, two. The second book is Passover – A Kosher Collection. For the three weeks leading up to Passover, my days are spent (among other things) answering questions from my customers. Younger customers are looking for help with traditional recipes, older customers are looking for new ideas and vice versa. I realized that there was a need for a new Passover cookbook and went to work on it. In the US and Canada, you can by it in various Judaica stores, and it’s available on Amazon.com in hard copy or for the Kindle/eReader. You can also order them from my website, and I’ll ship them anywhere! Around the web – my Passover friendly recipes/articles from other sites:

I love Tortilla Soup and make many different yet similar versions of it. What’s so great about Tortilla Soup (in my mind, at least) is that it’s a bowl of hot, slightly spicy (how spicy is up to you), filling soup that’s just what I want on a cold winter day, yet the flavours take me to southern California and I can pretend I’m sitting in the sun rather than shivering in the ice and snow.

The chipotle peppers in adobo sauce are a new obsession for me, but if you can’t get them, don’t want to use them because they’re too spicy or don’t like them, simply leave them out and add 1/2 – 1 tsp. chili powder. If you have it, add 1/2 tsp. of smoked paprika as well.

The fresh, cool avocado that I add when serving the soup is something new for me. The last couple of times I’ve made this soup I’ve added the avocado and love it. The creamy, cool avocado is a great addition to the spicy, tart soup flavours.

Ingredients:

1 small red onion, peeled and chopped

1 medium orange pepper, cored, seeded and chopped

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 large garlic cloves, crushed

2 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

4 tomatillos, paper removed, cored and chopped

1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, seeds removed and finely chopped

2 Tbsp. adobo sauce

3 cups chicken stock

2 cups tomato juice

1/2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, diced 1/2″

19 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup frozen corn

1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

1 avocado, chopped

tortilla chips

lime wedges

extra cilantro

Over medium heat, saute the onion and orange pepper in the olive oil for 5-7 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic, cumin, salt, black pepper and the tomatillo and cook another minute.

Add the chipotle and the adobo sauce and stir through. Add the stock and tomato juice, cover and bring to a boil on high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the chicken and beans and cook for 2 minutes, then add the corn. Cook another 8-10 minutes, or until the soup just comes back to the simmer, the corn is hot and the chicken has cooked through.

Add the lime juice and cilantro, stir through and taste, checking the seasoning and adjusting if necessary.

Top each bowl with diced avocado and serve with tortilla chips and extra lime wedges and chopped cilantro on the side.